Sunday Night Open Thread

November 18, 2012 by Mike Axisa 74 Comments

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Sunday nights usually suck a little because you know the workweek starts in a few hours, but at least Thanksgiving — hands down the best holiday of the year — is a few days away. If that’s not worth looking forward to, nothing is.

Here’s your open thread for the evening. The late NFL game is the Ravens at the Steelers, plus there’s miscellaneous NBA action as well. Talk about whatever you like here.

Leg-End

Great F1 GP you guys laid on today.
Alkaline

You know what’s great about Sundays, though? The Walking Dead.
- Andy Pettitte’s Fibula
  
  +100000000000000000
  
  I can’t wait to find out who’s on the other end of that phone call to Rick.
  - jjyank
    
    For the us non-comic readers, who wants to guess? I’m putting my money on the guy that opened the gates to begin with. Could also be Carol too, since we never actually saw her die. But how the fuck would she have that phone number? Whoever cut the lock on the gates clearly knows a thing or two about the layout of the prison, so he’s my guess.
    - http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike Axisa
      
      I forget his name (Andrew?), but I thought the little black guy (as opposed to the tall ass black guy) cut the chain and was then killed later in the episode?
      - jjyank
        
        I’m blanking on that guy. Are you talking about the dude that was bitten by a walker and then saved Carol? Or another guy? He wasn’t tall, but he was stocky. By “tall ass guy”, are you referring to the inmate?
        
        http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike Axisa
        
        Yeah, there were two black inmates. The short guy who ran away from Rick (and then broke the fence) and the tall one who is part of the group now.
        
        jjyank
        
        I thought the short guy was killed in the episode before the fence was cut. I could be misremembering though.
        
        Ethan
        
        The small black guy was locked out of the fence in the episode after we are introduced to the inmates. We hear him scream and assume he’s dead (at least i did). But he’s not. He’s the guy that opens the gate that then leads to the mayhem the follows.
- Big Member
  
  Anyone played the game? Never watched the show nor read the comics, but the game is superb. One of the best games I’ve played in years. Last episode of the game is due next week.
- jjyank
  
  True that. Can’t wait till 9!
Big Member

In other news, selling Twinkies may soon become more profitable than selling weed.
- Knoxvillain
  
  I saw some people on E-bay were selling boxes for like $200. That’s ridiculous. If I knew they would go for that much I would have bought every box of Twinkies the second I heard they were going out of business.
  
  Also, I’ve never once eaten a Twinkie in my entire life. Not once.
  - http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike Axisa
    
    Someone will buy the righties to make Twinkies in bankruptcy court. They aren’t goin’ anywhere.
    - Robinson Tilapia
      
      Devil Dogs, however….
    - Rocky Road Redemption
      
      Yeah, I’m not wasting my time worrying.
    - Austin Aunelowitzky
      
      In Canada its Hostess-Frito Lay. Wouldn’t be surprised if pepsico (who owns Frito Lay) bought the brand in the US. Although Indra Nooyi, their CEO, is hellbent on a health kick.
Get Phelps Up

Papelbon giving up walkoffs never gets old.
- jjyank
  
  Was just about to post this. Few things in life make me giddier than watching Poopelbon do that slow walk to the dugout after giving up a walk off.
  - http://sportsnation.espn.go.com/fans/nettleshof vicki
    
    i assume you’ve all seen this by now. still, it never gets old.
    
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPNpJX8b-bc
    - Mister D
      
      I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I watched this game (and Proctor’s final gift) in a Boston hospital waiting for my first kid to be born. Greatest day ever made greater.
Wil Nieves Number 1 Fan

The fullscreen button has disappeared for me on MLB.com videos. Anybody else having this issue?
McLovin

Ah nice win by the Knicks them being great makes missing hockey a little less suckish
Robinson Tilapia

Don’t know if I agree with Thanksgiving being the best holiday. Nothing will ever beat opening presents on Christmas morning for me. I still get a rush from it every year that nothing else seems to beat.

I do, however, make a mean cranberry compote that I took from an episode of Emeril and am determined to make my own Thanksgiving cocktail for the entire family this year. To that end, tomorrow night, I will make my own pumpkin spice simple syrup.
- jjyank
  
  Agreed. I like Christmas better, and hell, I’m an Atheist. So is my father and my brother. But we still have awesome Christmas traditions. Sauerbraten, dumplings, and red cabbage with chestnuts. That’s a better meal than Thanksgiving anyway. Plus, yeah, presents.
  - Joe
    
    Haha I wouldn’t feed my dog that. Their is no better meal than thanksgiving.
    - jjyank
      
      ….okay then. You wouldn’t feed your dog an amazing meal? I feel bad for your dog.
      - Pat D
        
        Consider the person to whom you replied. His name might as well be Trolly McTroll.
  - Sly Robbie
    
    To each his own in their beliefs, but a properly prepared sauerbraten cannot be beat. Never tried chestnuts with the red cabbage, but it seems like a good combo. Personally, I prefer a good lager or a Zeller Schwarze Katz riesling to accompany such a fine meal. Anyone suggesting feeding such a feast to a dog is obviously a dumkopf.
    
    When I was a kid, Christmas was the bomb, still is in a way. But as I grow older, I prefer Thanksgiving. In my family, it’s the “no pressure” holiday. Cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. make plans to visit so-and-so in the midwest or on the west coast and so on. I’m a homebody, so anyone who ain’t got any plans can stop on by. Some years we go big on the turkey and trimmings, but some of the best times have involved pizza pies and boxed wine.
    
    I hope my fellow RAB-followers have a great holiday, don’t get too stressed, and have the opportunity to give thanks for whatever blessings have come your way.
    
    /Robbie
  - Andy Pettitte’s Fibula
    
    I’m atheist too but also love Christmas.
    
    That meal sounds amazing by the way. So much nastiness on this site recently.
    - Ethan
      
      I’ve noticed it too lately actually. I understand the trolls and people that get really down on the team sometimes. But they never were hostile towards others on the site. Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of posters attacking others. Such douches.
- I am not the droids you’re looking for
  
  Best drink ever and not just for thanksgiving time:
  
  Using Libby’s Easy Pumpkin Pie canned mix, mix ingredients exactly as indicated on can.
  
  Fill blender with said mix to about 3/4 full.
  
  Add 1/2 pint of Haagen Dazs vanilla ice cream.
  
  Add handful of ice cubes.
  
  Add liberal amount of rum (you can play with this).
  
  Blend.
  
  PROFIT.
  
  PUMPKIN COLADA FTW!!!!!
  
  (Trust me).
Rocky Road Redemption

So. Notre Dame.

*Ducks*
Rocky Road Redemption

I don’t really like Thanksgiving, actually. I hate turkey and honestly no part of the meal but the pie ever particularly appealed to me.

I love the whole Christmas season, and Christmas Eve, almost more than Christmas though.
Rocky Road Redemption

Hey, I’d like some opinions from you guys. This post is a bit long, but easy to digest.

A friend and I are organizing a charity musical some time in July for the charity “To Write Love on her Arms”. We’re putting on just one show, and we’ll have two months to rehearse. Currently we haven’t a penny to our name, and we’ll be getting literally every cent we have via fundraising. With this in mind, we want a relatively simple show with a medium sized cast and not a lot of choreography, or at least difficult choreography. We’ve narrowed it down to three choices. They are:

1) Godspell. Pros: Great show, literally no set or props, ultra-minimal choreography, flexible cast size, probably literally the easiest possible show to perform.

Cons: Right now we’re cautiously optimistic we’ll be on a real proscenium stage, so I’m not sure how it would translate. Also, we’re looking to try something SLIGHTLY more ambitious until it’s proven that we cant.

2) Once on this Island. Pros: Small set, flexible cast with the option of “doubling” characters. More ambitious than Godspell in the sense that there’s more singing and a slightly larger set. As it’s not TOO well known there’s little to compare it to giving us very free reign in production (and some buffer against criticism).

Cons: Possibly too much choreography, which is a pretty big deal. Also, I know very little about it. I’m currently going through a production on youtube but I still feel as though I don’t “get” the show. Even though the music is good and I like the story I’m simply not excited about doing it.

3) Urinetown. Pros: My favorite show on this list of three, absolutely outstanding. Easy costumes and very flexible cast with the option of “doubling” certain characters. Also, it is HILARIOUS, AND has great music. All around excellent show.

Cons: Due to the set and length of the show, the most ambitious of the three (although the set can be built so that there don’t need to be real set changes), and thus the most difficult. It CAN be done in two months, but it will take a LOT of hard work. And of course, another issue involving the large set is CASH, which at the moment we don’t have. We’ll scrounge, though…

And, of course, the title. THE TITLE. We’re holding one show. There is no time for word of mouth to spread. We need people to come. The problem is, even though the show is actually okay for families to come and watch, people who see the title and don’t know the show are going to be, in many cases, completely turned off. Or they’ll be reluctant to bring their kids. And that’s a real shame. But that’s a HUGE issue. We need people to come to the show, and that title might just turn too many people off. But, on the other hand, it’s such a GREAT show…ugh.
- jjyank
  
  I feel you, man. I did theater in high school for 3 years. And I was the lead for most of the shows we did. I’m not familiar with those 3 particular shows, but the advice I have is this: You don’t need awesome props or choreography if the show is funny. One of the best shows I ever did was a parody of the Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). Very few props, almost no choreography, but the dialogue was amazingly funny. Friends of ours would come see the show to support us, and ended up coming back a second or even a third time because it was so great.
  
  So all I have to say about that is to pick the show that gives you enough time to make the lines great. Anyone can memorize words, but if there is less time spend rehearsing dances and figuring out props, the more time you can make the dialogue really jive. Just my two cents.
  - Rocky Road Redemption
    
    Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.
    
    What a shame that Urinetown has that title. Truly awesome show. “Run, Freedom Run” has to be one of the best musical songs ever.
    - Rocky Road Redemption
      
      …And we’ve made a choice. “110 in the shade”. Simple set, flexible cast. Carried by the strength of the actors and singers. Awesome.
      - forensic
        
        So, you picked a show that wasn’t one of your top 3? Sounds somewhat inefficient, and kind of like choosing stuff for a wedding.
        
        I say go with Les Miserables. Be aggresive, go big or go home, make loud mistakes… :-)
        
        Rocky Road Redemption
        
        Believe me, I’d LOVE to. Except that our budget is, literally, zero. I’m not even kidding when I say that I had to CONVINCE my partner to go higher than Godspell. I am honest when I say that this is ambitious.
        
        Anyway, the only reason this wasn’t in my top three was because I didn’t know about it. ;-) It’s a Tom Jones/Harvey Schmidt show. They wrote “The Fantasticks” (“Try to Remember”). I LOVE “The Fantasticks”, I was in a production of it once, so as soon as I realized it was Jones/Schmidt I jumped on it.
        
        No, I’m happier with this choice than any of my original three but Urinetown, which is out because for a charity event we don’t want that title to scare people-a shame, since it’s pretty PG, actually. Save it for later, if this event is a success.
        
        http://sportsnation.espn.go.com/fans/nettleshof vicki
        
        rocky horror show.
        
        /debate.
        
        Rocky Road Redemption
        
        Bleh. HATE that show.
Cano fan #1

GO BROOKLYN NETS
The Real Eddard

Jets are just two back of the WC and now would be the time to go to Tebow. Sanchez got you a win against a Rams team that put everything they had left into beating San Fransisco. Good, great, wonderful, now go to Tebow to put you over the top. You have got to beat New England at home or it’s over. Then you’ve got Arizona, Jacksonville, Tennessee, San Diego, Buffalo. They can do this but only if Tebow is running that offense.
- jjyank
  
  Too bad both of them are terrible.
- Get Phelps Up
  
  #EddardWorld, football style.
Dan

Christmas is the best holiday of the year. You get all the food of Thanksgiving, plus presents. And it’s a two day holiday–Xmas eve and Xmas day.
- Ethan
  
  Plus new years is so close as well!
- MannyGeee
  
  As an avid fan of people watching, I look forward to Thanksgiving if for no other reason, the Freaks Come Out At ~~Night~~ Black Friday… Thanksgiving to Christmas is a special 5 week time period where the ENTIRE WORLD becomes a giant WalMart.
  
  Great times indeed.
Pat D

I remember workweeks. I think. I still can’t believe I haven’t worked in 5 months. I suppose that going back to school will feel even weirder, however.
Pat D

Also, Thanksgiving vs. Christmas? I suppose I generally prefer Christmas. I like the overall Christmas season and always enjoy listening to my Christmas music every year (nothing beats the nostalgia of John Denver & The Muppets).

I’m also getting a little sick of Black Friday. I actually enjoyed the day when I did retail because it was fun to see how crazy people could be. But now Black Friday is starting at midnight or even earlier at some stores? Jeez, at this rate Black Friday is going to become irrelevant because all stores will end up being open all day Thanksgiving day.

I have also worked both Thanksgiving day and Christmas day. They both suck immensely and Christmas was actually busier at my call center.
- forensic
  
  Working holidays kind of sucks, but at least it’s double time pay (some places). It’s almost better than being on standby for holidays though. You get paid a little, but not really being able to do anything and just sitting and waiting for the phone to ring at any time (like when you’re about to sit down for dinner) is terrible.
- MannyGeee
  
  many stores are going for 8PM Thursday. That takes a special kind of degenerate to start shopping at 8PM and go straight through to Black Friday.
  - Pat D
    
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-4Knl-1CUg
pete from NH

I was at the Formula 1 race in Austin this weekend. Friday practice, Saturday qualifying and Sunday race. Exciting race with crazy fast, crazy loud cars. Very entertaining for 120,000 fans from around the world and a brand new facility. Cool town with lots of music.

University of Texas marcing band (The Eyes of texas are Upon You sung by the whole place). Country star Clay Walker sang the National Anthem. Jet flyover. And…Ronan Tynan sang God Bless America so there’s your NYY tie-in.
- Get Phelps Up
  
  I miss Ronan Tynan’s God Bless America signings at YS.
  - http://sportsnation.espn.go.com/fans/nettleshof vicki
    
    no.
- forensic
  
  To each their own, and I know there are tons of people who like all that stuff, but so much of what you described just sounds painful to me.
Ethan

Steve aoki just finished playing a gig at my school! Was a pretty sick show! Anyone a fan of electronic/house music here?
- Robinson Tilapia
  
  Huge fan, but not familiar with him. Will check him out now, though.
  
  Speaking of which, if you’re an electronic music fan from the past two decades, one of my biggest heroes, Pete Namlook, passed away this week.
  - Ethan
    
    Aoki is great. Check out his Pursuit of Happiness remix as well as Ladi Dadi (Tommy Trash remix). Both are monster hits! What kind of electronic music are you into?
    
    Not familiar with Pete Namlook what kind of sub-genre is he?
  - Ethan
    
    From the few songs i’ve listened to Pete Namlook (just now on Youtube) he seems to be a very different genre from the stuff these days. Much more melodic and relaxed. Quite different from a lot of modern electronic artists, such as steve aoki, who live off the high energy stuff. Maybe I’ve just heard a small sample (SSS!) of his stuff.
Andy Pettitte’s Fibula

So Rick was hallucinating the phone calls, huh?

Looks like this season is set up to be a battle between Ricks group and the governors. I like it that Michonne has joined with Rick. She’s a bad ass and I hope she chops up that Merle as some point.
jake

just saw skyfall, it was terrific
- forensic
  
  I just can’t bring myself to see any of these new Bond movies. I’m not even old, but it’s just not the same in so many ways as the Sean Connery (even Roger Moore) days. I haven’t even seen the Pierce Brosnan movies.
  - Robinson Tilapia
    
    I have to say that, even from people who couldn’t care less about action movies, never mind Bond movies, the praise I’ve heard in universal. If I were to get back to a place where I found a movie theater to be a good way to spend two hours away from my boy, I’d check it out.
  - G
    
    The Brosnan movies are nothing special. The Craig movies, with the exception of Quantum of Solace, on the other hand, are excellent. Who cares if it’s not the exact same? It’s a wonderful film in its own right and you’re depriving yourself of a great experience if you don’t go.
  - YanksFanInBeantown
    
    Casino Royale was excellent. It was very Fleming and it was great to see a Bond who could bleed and make mistakes without compromising his “Bond”-ness.
    
    It was what the Dalton movies should have been.
    
    I haven’t seen Skyfall yet, but my friends have all strongly recommended it.
  - http://riveraveblues.com Mike Axisa
    
    Brosnan was pretty generic as an action hero. I like Craig and thought Skyfall was excellent. It was a bit Dark Knight-ish, so to speak.
    - forensic
      
      I’m sure the movies in a vacuum were great, but it just too far from the original actions and technique of Bond. I’m not even usually too into this stuff, but it’s just such a big leap.
      
      And for what it’s worth, I didn’t enjoy the re-intro of the Batman stuff in the new movies either.
      - G
        
        Just see them as that then, in a vacuum. Although that doesn’t actually work, considering that defeats the purpose of the movie’s ending… I’ll just put it this way, if detachment from the original Bonds concerns you, the ending will please you.
    - G
      
      Totally agree Mike, I was thinking of it as the The Dark Knight of Bond as well.
      
      Now if that little rumor of Nolan directing a future Bond could come true we could really see something like that…
JohnC

I do enjoy Thanksgiving, the meal, the family gathering, the parade and watching the football games, but I love the Christmas season the best, especially Christmas Eve. Seems like Christmas Day is kind blah after you finish exchanging gifts. My favorite Christmas movies are National Lampoon’s Xmas Vacation and Elf. What are everyone else’s favorites?
Cris Pengiucci

Hey Robinson Tilapia, on the off chance you read this, I’d like a way to contact you privately. Is therea way to privately transfer info through here? Thanks!